Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include code-division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time-division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency-division multiple access (FDMA) systems, and orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) systems.
Generally, a wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple mobile devices. Base stations may communicate with mobile devices on downstream and upstream links. Each base station has a coverage range, which may be referred to as the coverage area of the cell. A base station may grant a mobile device resources for upstream transmissions. The base station and mobile device may access a modulation coding scheme (MCS) table to determine the MCS to use for uplink transmission. As wireless communication systems increase their support of additional MCSs, existing MCS tables may not include data entries that account for these additional MCSs that are supported by the communication system. Therefore, additional MCS tables may be developed, and wireless communication systems may require methods for referencing the multiple MCS tables. In particular, a mobile device participating in upstream communications utilizing such additional MCSs may benefit from methods of indicating corresponding MCS tables to the mobile device.